Introduction by John J. Kovacs (A Miskolc Survivor)

Background

The purpose of this project is to commemorate approximately
ten thousand Jewish victims of the Holocaust of the city of
Miskolc and of those who lived in 134 different towns in the
county of Borsod. (For a complete listing of the surrounding
towns and information available, please see the
"Database" section below.

The city of Miskolc in the 1940s was reported to be the second
largest city in Hungary, with a population of about 100,000, which
included approximately 14,000 Jews. Miskolc was also the
seat of the county of Borsod. Besides Miskolc, Jews lived in
some very large and some small towns in Borsod county that we
call "the surroundings." (See the below map of the
County of Borsod.)

From the early 1940s, many Jewish Hungarian men of military
age, who were able to perform physical labor, were inducted into
labor service units as part of the Hungarian military since Jews
were not allowed to carry arms or wear uniforms with military
insignia. From about 1942 they could only wear civilian
clothes, an armband, and a military cap without insignia.
By 1944 most of the able bodied men were in labor service units.

The rest of the Jewish population remained in their homes
until the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944.
Thereafter, Jewish men, women, children and the elderly outside
of Budapest were progressively put into ghettoes and later
deported to concentration camps. Jews of Miskolc and
surroundings were deported in jam packed freight cars to
Auschwitz in June 1944. The trains left the Miskolc area on
June 11, 12, 13 and 14 and arrived in Auschwitz on June 13, 14,
15 and 16. Later on, members of some labor service units
were also deported to German concentration camps and they also
died in labor service, especially on the Ukrainian front.

The Miskolc martyrs list was compiled by members of the Jewish
Community who survived the Shoah and returned to Miskolc and
surrounding towns from concentration camps or labor service after
WWII. A copy of this list was located at the Kazinczy Street
Synagogue of Miskolc in 2007 and was used for this project.
This original community list at the synagogue consists of
approximately 406 manually typed pages, some already faded.
Thus, our list of martyrs for the city of Miskolc contains
6,588 names with a person’s occupations and street
address as available from the community list. In comparison,
the Miskolc Yizkor Book, entitled "Miskolc és
Környéke Mártirkönyve" (The Book of
Martyrs of Miskolc) by Rav Slomo Paszternak, 1970, contains an
estimated 300 or more names, but it does not include a list of
occupations and addresses. The two Miskolc lists vary
however, as some names are spelled differently and some may be
available in one and not in the other list. Thus the advantage
of our and the original community list used in this project is that
besides the name and year of birth of the martyr it also contains
the occupation and former resident street address for the city of
Miskolc. This additional information can be important to the
genealogical researcher as many of the names are similar.
For the list of martyrs in the other towns of Borsod county, our
list contains 4,243 names in 134 towns whereas Paszternak has a
pproximately 66 additional towns and an estimated 3,400 more names.
For the other towns we do not have street addresses.

VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST

Miskolc Fourth Grade Jewish Elementary
School Class 1942 In the "Erzsébet Izraelita Elemi
Iskola"; probably most of these students perished in the
Holocaust in 1944: see the list of the student names and their
former addresses below.

The names of the students in the photograph are listed by rows
starting with the student on the extreme left of each row.
Most students should have been born in 1932. Those
listed with a birth year other than 1932 are probably listed in
error. Names were recorded by John Kovacs based on his
memory and the addresses were taken from the Miskolc community
list. The address column was left blank when a
person’s surname and given name was not in the community
list; the reason could be that they survived or their relatives
or friends did not report them.

Top Row

Address in Miskolc

Czeisler, György

Ady Endre u. 22 b. 1932

Groszman, László

Wruszerbai, Imre

Weisz, Andor Zöldfa

u. 25 b. 1934

Neuwalder, Ernö

Kazinczy u. 6 b. 1930

Adorján, György

Lonovits u. 2 b. 1932

Markovits, Dezsö

Gotlib, Lajos

Arany J. u. 100 b. 1932

Herskovits, Miklós

Vörösmarty u.55

Váradi, György

Mindszent u. 20 b. 1930

Bonis, Péter

He is not listed, but believe he lived on Széchenyi
u.

Schlezinger, Jenö

Rózsa u. 4

Silberman,Salamon

Paloczy u. 6

Third Row

Address in Miskolc

Róth, Ernö

Schwarz, László

Vörösmarty. u. 18

Bornstein, István

Ronai, István

Klein, Zoltán

Rosenberg, Miklós

Szentpály u.12 b. 1934

Mandel, Pál

Márkusz, László

Deutsch, Ernö

Pugács, Ernö

Lichtner, Ernö

Paloczy u. 7

Lusztig, Sándor

Tetemvár alsos 2

Ungar, Arthur

Second Row

Address in Miskolc

Róth, Adolf

Mindszent u. 4 b.1933

Komlós, József

Lefkovits, Marton

Zsupnik, Miklós

Lehel u. 2 b. 1932

Feig, István

Széchenyi u. 89 b.1932

Hauer, Bertalan, School Principal

Leventa u. 14 murdered by Hungarian fascists

Buxbaum, József, Class Teacher

survived

Kovács, János **

Bizony Ákos u. 15 b. 1932 survived

Weisz, György

Vay u. 15 b. 1932

Márkusz, Tibor

Szendrey u.17 b.1932

Front Row

Address in Miskolc

Winger, Ábel

Kohn, Gyözö

Kovács, Pál

Vörösmarty u.16 b. 1932 (my best friend)

Goldstein, László

Zsolcai Kapu 32 b. 1932

Schönbrun, Miklós

Zsolcai Kapu 14 b. 1934

Grün, Gyula

Preusz, Lázár

Hunyadi u. 14 b. 1932

Rozenfeld, Pál

Szentpéteri K. 57 b. 1932

Stern Sándor

Széchenyi u. 87 b. 1932

**This photograph was preserved by Kovács János,
one of the students who survived. John Kovacs, Bloomfield, MI,
j.kovacs@sbcglobal.net.

Memorial to the Martyrs in Miskolc Kazinczy
Street synagogue

English translation of the Hungarian text
follows:

This is a memorial for our blood.
They died a martyr’s death in Auschwitz for their Jewishness.
The deportation death trains left on June 11, 12, 13, and 14, 1944
and arrived in Auschwitz on June 13, 14, 15, 16, 1944.

The following is the introduction in Hebrew and Hungarian
to the original list of names in the Synagogue collection.
The English translation of the Hungarian text follows:

For the everlasting mourning of the surviving Jewry of
Miskolc and surroundings and for future generations we have
immortalized the names of those murdered in the Holocaust.
Each name has a soul. These many thousands were our
blood: the splendid youth, tired old men, mothers who held
tightly their children, attentive fathers, affectionate partners
in marriage, school boys and girls, playful children and the
youthful mothers under whose hearts were the lives of future
children. Names of human beings! Our people suffered
the ultimate humiliation and were cruelly annihilated during the
years of 1940-1944 through the cruel use of starvation, bullets,
ropes, fire and water.

Database

This database includes 10,831 records of residents from Miskolc
and surrounding towns. The fields for this database are as follows:

Name (Surname + Given Name) (See Note 1 below)

Maiden Name

Husband’s Given Name (See Note 1 below)

Year of Birth

Occupation (See Note 2 below)

Last Residence – Town
(For a complete list of surrounding towns, see Note 3 below)

Last Residence – Street Address
(For the city of Miskolc only)

Comments (See Note 4 below)

Note 1: Given and husband’s given names.

In some cases, the record will show the name as "N."
Although it is possible that this could be the first initial for
a person’s name, we believe the "N" denotes unknown.

In addition to Miskolc, the following is an alphabetical table of towns
within the "Miskolc surroundings".

Aggtelek

Felsöábrány

Mezökeresztes *

Sály

Alsóábrány

Felsökelecsény

Mezőkővesd

Sáta

Alsószuha

Felsönyárád

Mezőnagymihály

Sikátor

Alsótelekes

Felsőzsolca

Mezönyárád

Szakácsi

Alsózsolca

Galvács

Mucsony

Szalonna

Arnót

Gelej

Nagybarca

Szendrö *

Ároktő

Gesztely

Nagycsécs

Szentistván

Balaton

Görömböly

Nagyvisnyó

Szentsimon

Bánréve

Hámor

Nekezseny

Szihalom

Barcika

Hangony

Nemesbikk

Szirma

Bélapátfalva

Harsány

Nyékládháza

Szirmabesenyő

Belsöböcs

Hejöbába

Omány

Szuhakálló

Berente

Hejőcsaba *

Ónod *

Szuhogy

Bogács

Hejökeresztur

Ózd *

Tardona

Boldva

Hejöpapi

Parasznya

Tibolddaróc

Bolyok

Hejöszalonta

Pusztaravasz

Tiszabábolna

Borsodgeszt

Hódoscsépány

Putnok *

Tiszadorogma

Borsodivánka

Igriczi

Radostyán

Tiszaeszlar

Borsodnádasd

Jákfalva

Rakaca

Tiszagyulaháza

Borsodszemere

Kácsfürdö

Rakacaszend

Tiszakeszi

Borsodszentgyörgy

Kánó

Rudabánya

Tiszaluc *

Bükkaranyos

Kelemér Ragály

Sajóecseg

Tiszapalkonya

Center

Keresztespüspöki

Sajóivánka

Tiszaszederkény

Csermely

Királd

Sajókápolna

Tiszatarján

Csokva

Kisgyör

Sajókaza

Trizs

Dédes

Kistokaj

Sajókazinc

Újgyör **

Diósgyör **

Kondó

Sajómercse

Uraj

Disznóshorvát

Külsöböcs

Sajonémeti

Vadna

Domaháza

Kurittyán

Sajóörös

Varbó

Dövény

Lénárddaróc

Sajópálfala

Vatta

Edelény *

Mályi

Sajópüspöki

Viszló

Emöd

Mályinka

Sajószentpéter *

Vizsoly

Encs *

Martonyi

Sajószöged

Zádorfalva

Erdötelek

Meszes

Sajóvámos

Zubogy

Mezöcsát *

Sajovelezd

The towns with one asterisk (*) are the larger towns with over
one hundred names in the list. The towns with two asterisks
(**), Diosgyor and Ujdiosgyor, are now part of greater
Miskolc.

Note 4: Comments:

This field includes references to Hungarian familial relationships,
as follows:

Fiu = Son

Gyermak = Child

Leány = Daughter

Özvegy = Widow

Acknowledgments

The information contained in this database was indexed from
records compiled by the Jewish Community of Miskolc, a copy of
which was given to John Kovacs at the Kazinczy Street Synagogue,
and he provided it for this project to ensure that the Jewish
victims of Miskolc would not be forgotten. JewishGen
volunteers, Freija Lindholm and Kurt Friedlaender, performed the
data entry steps for this set and Gary Deutsch, John Kovacs,
Sam Guncler and Viviana Grosz proofread the data entry work.
John Kovacs also reviewed all proofed pages and the entire
project for accuracy and consistency.

In addition, thanks to JewishGen Inc. for providing the website
and database expertise to make this database accessible.
Special thanks to Warren Blatt and Michael Tobias for their
continued contributions to Jewish genealogy. Particular
thanks to Nolan Altman, coordinator of Holocaust files.